The Public Investment Fund (PIF) has established its Vision 2030 to enable Saudi Arabia’s private sector to find new investment opportunities, both domestically and internationally. How does Vision 2030 affect the kingdom’s pharma strategy?
The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has set its agenda to reach 40% of domestic manufacturing by 2030. The cornerstone of this strategy will be Lifera, a PIF-funded biopharma company, aimed at building manufacturing capacity in KSA. Partnerships have been signed to scale up local biomanufacturing: vaccines (Sanofi and Arabio), insulin (Sanofi, Novo). US-based CDMO National Resilience has also established a joint venture focused on sterile injectables and other parenteral products.
To support the country’s ambitions, another company is positioned: Vaccine Industrial Company (VIC), founded in 2022. USD 133 million have been engaged to build a vaccine factory in Sudair City, with a yearly production capacity of 30 million vaccine packages. 150 jobs have been announced to manufacture flu, Covid-19, chickenpox, pneumococcal and meningitis vaccines. VIC has signed an equity deal with Emergex Vaccines, positioned Phase I for infectious diseases such as betacoronaviruses and dengue fever. The deal involves a potential fill & finish tech transfer.
Saudi Arabia also seeks partners from BRICS countries: Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef has visited the Butantan Institute’s operations in Brazil. Following this visit, the Saudi kingdom wishes to boost collaboration with Brazil, potentially involving tech transfers.
Al-Khorayef is also urging Chinese companies to invest in the Saudi industry, notably pharma.
National sovereignty, half or full measures?
Vision 2030 has entered the minds in all the private sector prompting companies to quickly switch gears. Reaching national sovereignty also means that Saudi Arabia seeks to shine in the Islamic world, through exportation. In the public sector, Saudi FDA has taken steps to protect the market with the establishment of new pharmaeconomic guidelines, mandatory for international companies to enter the market. Novel drugs will be subjected to stricter rules in terms of real-world evidence and economic impact.
Will these efforts be enough to reach the goals set up? On paper, producing all insulin and vaccines on your soil is a great deal, but being limited to fill & finish can only be temporary if the true objective is national pharma independence. The multiplication of signals the authorities’ wish to benefit from the most complete tech transfer.
Finally, the Saudi’s ambition to shine in the Islamic world will face the strong position of other key countries. Saudi Arabia will have to compete with Egypt in Africa and Indonesia in Southeast Asia, countries that are more advanced in terms of production (Vacsera, PT BioFarma…).
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